Bioterrorism And Biowarfare: A Threat Analysis

The BW attack by the group was one of the most serious in the U.S. during the 1980s. Salmonella typhimurium is a biological agent that can cause severe food poisoning when ingested. In 1984 the group used the bacterium to infect salad bars in restaurants within the town of The Dalles, Oregon. The attack ultimately infected at least 750 people (Rajneeshpuram: An Experiment to Provoke God 1995). This successful salmonella attack was not the only attack attempted by the Rashneeshpuram cult.

The first major bioterror event in the United States--the anthrax attacks in October 2001--was a clarion call for scientists who work with "hot" agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a #1 New York Times bestseller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense.

“Bioterrorism remains a major threat for the United States despite more than $65 billion spent on protecting the country from myriad dangers, the Bipartisan WMD Terrorism Research Center said in its latest report Wednesday. The center's Bio-Response Report Card evaluated U.S. preparedness for countering threats from bioterrorism and found the country remains vulnerable to multiple threats and "largely unprepared for a large-scale bioterrorist attack."”(UPI.com, 2011). There have been over a dozen leading U.S. bio-defense experts that have taken part in figuring out where we are exactly as a county and what the effects of a terroristic attack

Chapter thirteen of the textbook, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism Containing and Preventing Biological Threats, by Jeffrey R. Ryan, examines a wide range of techniques, set up, to help the United States, or U.S., in becoming prepared for a potential biological terrorist attack. A portion of the techniques mentioned throughout chapter thirteen were early warning detection systems. These systems are known as the Autonomous Detection system, and the Biohazard Detection System (Ryan, 327-329). Although both these detection systems have their benefits, the one that has conveyed more consideration over the years is the Biohazard Detection

The Quadrennial Homeland Security review suggest six strategic challenges that will drive the overall risk to the nation over the next five years. These six risks include: the terrorist threat; growing cyber threats; biological concerns; nuclear terrorism; transnational criminal organizations; and natural hazards (DHS, 2014). The terrorists threat is, arguably, the most publicized and popular of the six risks the DHS lists. The particular risk is unique in the fact that although it can be planned for and mitigated against by state and local governments, it is primarily a federal responsibility, or at least perceived so by most entities. The DHS itself was established due to the events of September 11th 2001 and it has since been a consistent

These biological agents could be viruses, toxins, bacteria, etc. Agents could be used in war or terrorist attacks. Also, they could be modified to cause extreme diseases and disorders, according to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It makes bioterrorism even more tempting to use as it is easy and inexpensive to produce, disseminate and can cause a more widespread panic than other acts of terrorism (1).

A governmental concern is that a bioterrorist attack will trigger panic amongst the population. Panic refers to a group response where intense fear causes people to be concerned with only their survival. While actual panic is rare, there are certain factors that could cause panic in the event of a bioterrorist attack, including limited medical resources where “first come, first serve” applies, a perception that there is poor

Agroterrorism is a direct attack against livestock or crops in an effort to damage a food supply. An attack against our food supply is an attack on one of the many critical infrastructures that our country has. A successful terrorist attack against this sector would be staggering to the country. In 2001 the food distribution industry registered 9.7 percent of the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product and generated cash receipts that exceeded 991 billion dollars (Chalk, 2003, pg. 3). The food distribution industry also makes up for a significant part of the work force in the United States. This is all effected if we were attacked biologically. The problem with a bio attack on our food supplies is lag time. Lag time is the time it would take for the federal government and general population to realize there is a problem with our food. It would then take a long period of time for the government to trace back the source of the large scale disease outbreak and determine whether it was a naturally occurring event, an accidental exposure, or a malicious attack. During this time food production would have to cease to stop the spread of the illnesses. The country’s finances would then be affected. Not to mention the amount of money it would take to trace the spread back to the source and destroy the livestock or crops responsible to stop the continued spread of disease. Even when food production began again the general population of the country would be leery about buying certain food products at first. This is what happened to the Blue Bell ice cream company after their listeria outbreak. Staggering our food supply and affecting America’s financial stability is exactly what terrorist organizations would love to achieve. In fact in 2002 American and allied troop raided a cave in Eastern Afghanistan and discovered thousands of documents outlining the U.S. agriculture system (Olson, 2012, pg. 1).

In 1984 a group, known as the Rajneeshees, used Salmonella enterica Typhimurium to poison about 700 people by contaminating salad bars in The Dalles in Oregon. This group had a charismatic leader in Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, an apocalyptic ideology, was a loner group with a sense of paranoia and aggressive (Tucker, 1999). The attack was due to the resistance from the Wasco County to allow the Rajneeshees to build their own utopia world. The plot was to take over the county by electing their own representatives by suppressing voter turnout in elections by making them sick. This group not only prepared and weaponized its own Salmonella, they also engaged in assassination attempts and intimidation, not only outside their group but also within its ranks.

Project Bioshield will protect the citizens of the United States of America safe from biological threats and warfare. Biological warfare is an act of war by using infectious toxins to wipe out or immobilize humans and animals. An example some these infectious toxins include viruses, diseases, fungi, and bacteria. “Project Bioshield is an attempt to create useful medicines to protect the people of the United States of America from biological and nuclear weapons.” (Progress in the War on Terror)

Chemical terrorism is the use of natural or synthetic substances such as mustard gas to kill a group of civilians (Freedmen 1). There is also such thing as bioterrorism. Bioterrorism is the use of a biological weapon against a civilian population such as smallpox and fungus (Hoyel 1). Chemical and biological terrorism is very dangerous because it intends to kill a lot of people at a time. Terrorists can get their hands on chemicals but it is much easier for them to get biologics (biological agents) because they are harder to detect and are cheaper to make.

The biological agent that was used by some of the members of the Rajneesh cult was salmonella typhimurium. Several local salad bars in Dalles, Oregon was contaminated and they attempted to poison the water system in an effort to hinder voters from voting against their candidate. This attack, "resulted in 751 cases, 45 of whom had to be hospitalized"(Barras, Greub

Many people want forms of action like cause death, shock economic disruption, loss of faith in authorities, psychological trauma, and dread. Most are already accomplished and would take attack on the United States food supply. The protection of the food supply has been a priority for public health official for decades. Industry/regulators have depended on spot-checks of manufacturing conditions and random sampling of final products just for food safety.

Protecting the public’s health historically has been a state and local responsibility. However, the growing threat of bioterrorism has highlighted the importance of a strong public health infrastructure to the nation’s homeland security and has focused increased attention on the preparedness of the public health system (Frist, 2011). Since the 2001 anthrax attacks Congress has passed new legislation to increase the strength of the nation’s public health system thus the funding has also rapidly increased to meet the potential demand. There is an ongoing debate however, as to what level of contribution local, state, and federal agency’s feel is an appropriate level of ongoing public health investments.

The threat by terrorist groups in using Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) has increased significantly in the recent years. Preventing the creation and the utilization of these deadly weapons as well as their delivery systems and reducing those already in existence, has become of extreme importance to the government. Certain weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical and biological, are easier to acquire but much harder to detect. For that reason, they should be the highest priority. Predicting when and how an attack will occur, involving chemical or biological weapons, is not 100 percent possible; however, individuals should not ignore the possibility of such an attack happening here on American soil. In the past, there have been attacks involving Sarin gas, such as the Tokyo Subway attack, and just recently, the Sarin nerve agent use in Syria. Terrorist have the capability to use chemical WMD and have shown that they are willing to use this method in warfare. In addition, military biological WMD programs discovered in Iraq and Russia show that there is a definite biological threat as well. Preparing America to face this threat head on is a daunting task, but lacking preparedness could have devastating consequences beyond comprehension. Agencies, such as public health organizations, must be prepared to prevent illness and injuries resulting from biological and chemical terrorism, especially with a concealed attack by a terrorist.